4-H TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING: WHAT
THE HECK IS THAT?
Nancy Franz
Assoc. Dean for Extension and Outreach for Families and 4-H Youth
ISU College of Human Sciences
OVERVIEW
Introduction
 Four approaches to 4-H work
 What is transformative learning
 Conditions to enhance transformation
 Implications for 4-H work

HOW DID NANCY GET INTO THIS?
Midlife crisis – a PhD
 Cornell focus on adult education
 Personal experience with 4-H
 The push for 4-H scholarship
 A great match of personal interests and
organizational need
 Enjoyable

Approaches to 4-H’s Educational Mission
CONTENT
LOW
P
R
O
C
E
S
S
HIGH
FACILITATION
TRANSFORMATIVE
EDUCATION
SERVICE
CONTENT
TRANSMISSION
HIGH
LOW
D. M. Ewert, 2001
WHAT IS TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING?
A prominent adult education theory
 Individuals, groups, and organizations arrive at
a new perspective and action that greatly
differs from past views and behaviors

 Deep
 Pervasive
 Sustained
MEZIROW’S 10 TL STEPS
Experiencing a disorienting dilemma
 Undergoing self-examination
 Conducting a critical assessment of internalized
role assumptions and felling a sense of alienation
from traditional social expectations
 Relating one’s discontent to similar experiences of
others or to public issues – recognizing that one’s
problem is shared and not just private
 Exploring options for new ways of acting

MEZIROW’S 10 STEPS
Building competence and self-confidence in
new roles
 Planning a course of action
 Acquiring knowledge and skills for
implementing one’s plans
 Making provisional efforts to try new roles and
to assess feedback
 Reintegrating into society on the basis of
conditions dictated by the new perspective

CONDITIONS OF THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
TO ENHANCE TL IN 4-H.
Strong partner facilitation
 Critical reflection
 Critical events
 Fundamental difference between partners
wrapped in similar purpose
 Independence with interdependence
 context

STRONG PARTNER FACILITATION
Actions taken by both partners through a
variety of methods (talking, stretching, pushing
each other)
 Supportive social and supervisory relationships
 Mentoring and support from “the other”

CRITICAL REFLECTION
Reflective events/moments
 Facilitated group processes
 Examining beliefs and assumptions

CRITICAL EVENTS
Pushed outside a comfort zone (or two)
 Trigger events
 Disorienting dilemma/disorientation

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PARTNERS WRAPPED IN
SIMILAR PURPOSE

Common group goals within a diverse group
 Common
goal
 Diverse perspectives/way of being
INDEPENDENCE WITH INTERDEPENDENCE
Practice independence in a safe environment
 Build trust with partners
 Well being of learner and teacher

CONTEXT
Traditions and rituals
 Simple lifestyle
 Individual readiness for change
 Freedom from constraints
 Alternative way of being is possible

IMPLICATIONS FOR 4-H
Educational environments should integrate people
with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and
experiences
 We need training and practice in facilitation skills
to be effective learning partners
 We should promote critical reflection activities
such as action learning, scenario building, and use
of metaphors
 We should include positive change messages in
faculty, staff, and client recruitment and
development

IMPLICATIONS FOR 4-H



We should recognize the importance of the learning
context and specialist work groups in facilitating
transformative learning
Specialists should examine whether or not they provide
and promote transformative learning conditions and
how they might improve those conditions to better
promote personal, group, and organizational change
Administrators (like me) should try to align
organizational transformation that parallels and/or
enhances transformative learning for faculty and staff
EXAMPLES
Teen court
 Camp counseling
 Program exchanges
 Public speaking
 4-H state conference
 4-H leader as mentor/catalyst

OVERALL
We need to help 4-H’ers think and act
differently and be open to the same happening
to ourselves in the process
 We are no longer just the adult expert, we are
the architect of 4-H learning environments
where context and expertise in taylored create
deep and lasting change
